Chernobyl, the forbidden truth by Alla Yaroshinska(
Book
)2
editions published
in
1992
in
Russian
and held by
54 WorldCat member
libraries
worldwide
In this impassioned, shocking, and deeply personal story, Alla Yaroshinskaya, then a journalist from Zhitomir, Ukraine, near
the Chernobyl power station, describes the 1986 Chernobyl disaster and the bureaucratic and scientific corruption surrounding
it. Despite the government's official silence, news and panic spread throughout the USSR and Europe after the horrific accident.
Like others, Yaroshinskaya initially fled with her family in hopes of escaping the danger from radioactive fallout that exceeded
that of Hiroshima by three hundred times. When she returned home, she discovered that people in highly contaminated areas
were being resettled in ones barely less contaminated, that their serious health problems were officially denied, and that
people had to eat locally grown contaminated food. Her newspaper refused to publish her stories and instead commissioned another
journalist to write more reassuring accounts. Finally, Isvestia published her articles. Despite official pressure, Yaroshinskaya
was nominated overwhelmingly to the new parliament in 1989. This position gained her access to classified documents known
as the Kremlin's "Forty Secret Protocols." Undaunted by threats, she revealed an official cover-up, including lies about "permissible"
higher radio-active levels. Her courageous campaign won her the Right Livelihood Award in 1992